why spelling bees are ridiculous

i flipped the channel to espn one day (in hopes of finding ice skating finals) when i stumbled upon a spelling bee, an actual american national spelling bee which apparently has been going on every year for the past twenty-something years. a spelling bee! on espn! what is this world coming to?

spelling bees are strange. the kids who join are almost all 100% nerds, and the words are stranger still -- strange medical and scientific words that absolutely nothing to do with real life. the whole process is downright surreal and funny that my sister and i actually watched the whole thing.

how it goes:

1. kid (age range: 11-14 years old) steps up to mike and official pronouncer gives a word. the kid has 90 seconds to spell it.
2. kid can ask the word's definition, etymology, and hear a sentence with the word in it.
3. the kid has to pronounce the word right before trying to spell it.
4. kid spells.
5. if he gets it right, applause. if not, a little bell dings and he's outta the game. there's even a crying room at the back of the stage for the kids who lose.

i really don't see the point of spelling bees. first, almost all the words have never been pronounced out loud since words were created. and i don't see the point of knowing how a word is spelled if you don't know what it means and probably won't use it in normal conversation for the rest of your life. and some of these kids actually learn latin to help them in spelling bees. latin! who would they talk with? most of all, what value does a spelling bee add when these kids are looking for a job?

gawd what nerds.

oh, and who's the bigger nerd, the kid who joins the spelling bee or the one who sits in front of the tv watching it for two hours?